Contingencies Fund Advance 2013-14

Vince Cable Excerpts

Tuesday 26th March 2013 Written Statements

[The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills (Vince Cable)]

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills wishes to recruit five non-executive directors and three executive directors to the proposed Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) before Royal Assent has been received for the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which will create the CMA, a new non-ministerial department later this year.

The new board together with Lord Currie CMA chair designate and Alex Chisholm CEO designate will play a critical role in driving forward the creation of the CMA. To ensure a smooth transition process the board will need to take early decisions on key areas such as operation structure and governance. When making these decisions, they will need to consider how the CMA will achieve greater coherence in competition practice, deliver a more streamlined approach to case handling and decision making, and creating an effective, high-impact competition regime, in order that the CMA fully delivers the benefits envisaged by Government.

Parliamentary approval for resource cover of £58,000 for this new service will be sought in an estimate for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Pending that approval, urgent expenditure estimated at £58,000 will be met by repayable cash advances from the contingencies fund.